If the Covid-19 outbreak has taught us anything, it’s that preparedness for crises is crucial to save lives. To be better prepared, we need to have a discussion about the future of the European Union. And not just among politicians. This is where the Conference on the Future of Europe comes in, which had been proposed already before the pandemic because, even back then, it was necessary to update our common vision and to speed up decision-making in our union of 27 member states.
Now, the time has come to get out of the ‘Brussels bubble’, listen to people and advance towards a feminist Europe. We need a new concept of power, a new approach to representative democracy and a new mindset in the EU institutions. This transformation should also be reflected in the institutional architecture. We must ensure that the conference plenary does not just become a political theatre for EU politicians to debate among themselves. Instead, it needs to be a forum to give a voice to citizens
Read more at:
Europe's democratic renewal needs a feminist slant – Iratxe García Pérez
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Showing posts with label Women. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Women. Show all posts
November 19, 2019
EU: How is Europe faring on violence against women?
58% per cent of the 87,000 women murdered in 2017 were killed by intimate partners or family members.
Read more at:
https://www.euronews.com/2019/11/18/watch-how-is-europe-faring-on-violence-against-women
Read more at:
https://www.euronews.com/2019/11/18/watch-how-is-europe-faring-on-violence-against-women
March 9, 2019
International Women's Day - The 10 worst countries in the world for women and the ten best - by Lia Ryerson
The index measures women's well-being — based on factors such as justice, security, and inclusion — in 153 countries.
Here are the 10 worst countries in the world for women to live in:
April 4, 2018
Islam: The (Silent) Revolution of Muslim Women - Andrés Ortega
There is much speculation as to whether liberalizing moves, such as the ones undertaken in Saudi Arabia, are for real. To be sure, despite recent, very encouraging signs, the jury is still out on that matter.
But in a broader context, there are definite signs of progress across the Muslim world. Indications are that a veritable revolution is underway among women in such societies.
Of course, it is not an overt revolution, but a profound transformation that has great scope: Since the turn of the century, 50 million women in predominantly-Muslim countries have entered the labor market.
As Saadia Zahidi, a Pakistani member of the World Economic Forum’s Executive Committee and head of its initiative on Education, Gender and Work, argues in her well-researched book packed with concrete examples, Fifty Million Rising: The New Generation of Working Women Transforming the Muslim World, what is happening is a real “tsunami.”
It is true that working women still account for only one quarter of the female population of these societies. But as Saadia Zahidi states, “the increase in their numbers represents an economic and cultural shift of enormous magnitude. Fifteen million women are renegotiating their own and their families’ norms and values.”
To give one example, in Pakistan, only four million women worked out of a population of 107 million 1990. By now, while the population has since doubled, the number of women workers has risen fourfold.
We should also remember that the United States and Europe only managed this transformation half a century ago. Some decades ago, in countries like in Germany, women still needed the consent of their husbands to take up work. Sound familiar?
Research suggests that, once women reach a 30% share in a nation’s labor force, this constitutes a tipping point where things start to change. They now account for 31% of the workforce across the Islamic world.
Clearly, there are major differences among Muslim countries. Only six of them have laws protecting against discrimination on the grounds of sex in employment contracts: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Mauritania, Morocco and Tajikistan.
And very often, although they can now study and work, these freedoms are not accompanied by basic freedoms for women. For example, rates of mobile phone ownership are significantly lower among women than among men in the majority of these societies.
In other words, it is a revolution that is by no means assured. It is “exponential, but not inevitable,” as Saadia Zahidi puts it. The forces of conservatism may push it back – as has already happened in some countries. Armed conflicts may thwart progress as well, as has occurred in Syria.
The type of education these young women are choosing also matters considerably. There are only five countries in the world with a higher proportion of women than men studying science, technology and engineering.
Two of them, Kuwait and Brunei, are predominantly Muslim. Half of the 18 countries where women constitute 40% of such students are Muslim, according to Zahidi.
Recent academic years in Egypt have seen almost 34% of the places in these subjects being taken by women, many of whom go on to pursue careers in the same fields, often as tech and online retailing entrepreneurs.
But if the trend continues, it will change many things. Just recall that in 2004, the sociologists Ronald Inglehart and Pippa Norris had convincingly argued that the real clash today’s world has to contend with was not one between civilizations, as Samuel Huntington had argued. They cast it as a clash between sexes, because of the often subservient role played by women, especially in the Muslim world.
Note EU-Digest: Great progress indeed for Muslim women, but unfortunately it also is a matter of the equality of men and women that needs to be addressed. The Koran was never modernized to reflect the equality of women in relation to men. In contrast to what was done during the Reformation for the Christian religion by Martin Luther against the doctrinal and oppressive Catholic Church based in Rome.
But in a broader context, there are definite signs of progress across the Muslim world. Indications are that a veritable revolution is underway among women in such societies.
Of course, it is not an overt revolution, but a profound transformation that has great scope: Since the turn of the century, 50 million women in predominantly-Muslim countries have entered the labor market.
As Saadia Zahidi, a Pakistani member of the World Economic Forum’s Executive Committee and head of its initiative on Education, Gender and Work, argues in her well-researched book packed with concrete examples, Fifty Million Rising: The New Generation of Working Women Transforming the Muslim World, what is happening is a real “tsunami.”
It is true that working women still account for only one quarter of the female population of these societies. But as Saadia Zahidi states, “the increase in their numbers represents an economic and cultural shift of enormous magnitude. Fifteen million women are renegotiating their own and their families’ norms and values.”
To give one example, in Pakistan, only four million women worked out of a population of 107 million 1990. By now, while the population has since doubled, the number of women workers has risen fourfold.
We should also remember that the United States and Europe only managed this transformation half a century ago. Some decades ago, in countries like in Germany, women still needed the consent of their husbands to take up work. Sound familiar?
Research suggests that, once women reach a 30% share in a nation’s labor force, this constitutes a tipping point where things start to change. They now account for 31% of the workforce across the Islamic world.
Clearly, there are major differences among Muslim countries. Only six of them have laws protecting against discrimination on the grounds of sex in employment contracts: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Mauritania, Morocco and Tajikistan.
And very often, although they can now study and work, these freedoms are not accompanied by basic freedoms for women. For example, rates of mobile phone ownership are significantly lower among women than among men in the majority of these societies.
In other words, it is a revolution that is by no means assured. It is “exponential, but not inevitable,” as Saadia Zahidi puts it. The forces of conservatism may push it back – as has already happened in some countries. Armed conflicts may thwart progress as well, as has occurred in Syria.
The type of education these young women are choosing also matters considerably. There are only five countries in the world with a higher proportion of women than men studying science, technology and engineering.
Two of them, Kuwait and Brunei, are predominantly Muslim. Half of the 18 countries where women constitute 40% of such students are Muslim, according to Zahidi.
Recent academic years in Egypt have seen almost 34% of the places in these subjects being taken by women, many of whom go on to pursue careers in the same fields, often as tech and online retailing entrepreneurs.
But if the trend continues, it will change many things. Just recall that in 2004, the sociologists Ronald Inglehart and Pippa Norris had convincingly argued that the real clash today’s world has to contend with was not one between civilizations, as Samuel Huntington had argued. They cast it as a clash between sexes, because of the often subservient role played by women, especially in the Muslim world.
Note EU-Digest: Great progress indeed for Muslim women, but unfortunately it also is a matter of the equality of men and women that needs to be addressed. The Koran was never modernized to reflect the equality of women in relation to men. In contrast to what was done during the Reformation for the Christian religion by Martin Luther against the doctrinal and oppressive Catholic Church based in Rome.
March 30, 2015
France - The ‘moderate’ imam who claims ‘all women are selfish’
An imam in France has claimed in a sermon that selfishness is part
of “the nature of women”, comments that have shocked all the more
because of his reputation as a progressive influence on Islam in the
country.
“No matter how much good you bestow upon a woman, she
will deny it. Her selfishness drives her to deny it.”
These were the words of Imam Mohamed Khattabi, delivered during a Friday sermon at the Aicha Mosque in Montpellier, southern France, on March 6, two days before International Women’s Day.
Standing high in the mosque’s minbar (pulpit), Khattabi continued: “This holds true for all women, whether Western, Arab, Muslim, Jewish, or Christian. This is the nature of women.
“If a woman overcomes her nature and acknowledges [the truth] … Allah grants her a higher place in paradise. But if she succumbs to her nature, and refuses to acknowledge the man's rights – or rather, the goodness that man bestows upon her – she is destined to go to [hell]…”
Read more: France - The ‘moderate’ imam who claims ‘all women are selfish’ - France 24
These were the words of Imam Mohamed Khattabi, delivered during a Friday sermon at the Aicha Mosque in Montpellier, southern France, on March 6, two days before International Women’s Day.
Standing high in the mosque’s minbar (pulpit), Khattabi continued: “This holds true for all women, whether Western, Arab, Muslim, Jewish, or Christian. This is the nature of women.
“If a woman overcomes her nature and acknowledges [the truth] … Allah grants her a higher place in paradise. But if she succumbs to her nature, and refuses to acknowledge the man's rights – or rather, the goodness that man bestows upon her – she is destined to go to [hell]…”
Read more: France - The ‘moderate’ imam who claims ‘all women are selfish’ - France 24
March 9, 2015
Prison Occupancy: Nearly A Third Of All Female Prisoners Worldwide Are Incarcerated In The United States
According to the International Centre for Prison Studies, nearly a
third of all female prisoners worldwide are incarcerated in the United
States of America. There are 201,200 women in US prisons, representing
8.8 percent of the total American prison population.
China comes a very distant second to the United States with 84,600 female prisoners in total or 5.1% of the overall Chinese prison population. Russia is in third position – 59,000 of its prisoners are women and this comes to 7.8 percent of the total.
Across the world, 625,000 women and children are being held in penal institutions with the female prison population growing on all five continents.
Read more and for Inphographic: Nearly A Third Of All Female Prisoners Worldwide Are Incarcerated In The United States [Infographic]
China comes a very distant second to the United States with 84,600 female prisoners in total or 5.1% of the overall Chinese prison population. Russia is in third position – 59,000 of its prisoners are women and this comes to 7.8 percent of the total.
Across the world, 625,000 women and children are being held in penal institutions with the female prison population growing on all five continents.
Read more and for Inphographic: Nearly A Third Of All Female Prisoners Worldwide Are Incarcerated In The United States [Infographic]
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